bam

Translingual

Symbol

bam

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Bambara.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæm/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

bam

1. Representing a loud noise or heavy impact.

   The wind knocked the tree over last night. Bam! It nearly scared me to death.

   • 2007, Joe Biden, Promises to Keep‎, New York: Random House, published 2008, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 266:

     We all looked up from the maps, silent, and listened to the hurried footsteps in the entryway. They padded up the red carpet, bam-bam-bam, and across the landing and then up the next flight at a gallop, bam-bam-bam.

2. Representing a sudden or abrupt occurrence.

   She said she dumped him. Now — bam! — they're back together.

Synonyms

• bang
• blam
• pow
• wham
• dishoom (India)

Derived terms

• wham, bam, thank you ma'am

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

bam (plural bams)

1. (Scotland, slang) A ned; a bampot.

Etymology 3

Perhaps from bamboozle.

Noun

bam (plural bams)

1. (slang, archaic) An imposition; a cheat; a hoax.
   • 1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns:

     To relieve the tedium he kept plying them with all manner of bams.

Verb

bam (third-person singular simple present bams, present participle bamming, simple past and past participle bammed)

1. (slang, archaic) To impose on (someone) by a falsehood; to cheat.
   • 1774, Samuel Foote, The Cozeners:

     This is some conspiracy, I suppose, to bam, to chouse me out of my money

   • 1747, David Garrick, Miss in Her Teens: or the Medley of Lovers, Act II, in The Plays of David Garrick: A Complete Collection of the Social Satires, French Adaptations, Pantomimes, Christmas and Musical Plays, Preludes, Interludes, and Burlesques, ed. Harry William Pedicord and Fredrick Louis Bergmann, vol. 1 (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980), 93

     I’ll break a lamp, bully a constable, bam a justice, or bilk a boxkeeper with any man in the liberties of Westminster.

2. (slang, archaic) To jeer or make fun of.

Etymology 4

Noun

bam (plural bams)

1. Abbreviation of bare-arse minimum. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Anagrams

• -mab, ABM, B. M. A., BMA, MAb, MBA, Mab, Mba, amb, amb., mAb, mab

Chinese

Etymology

Misspelling of English ban. Doublet of ban.

Pronunciation

Verb

bam

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, Internet slang, leetspeak, neologism) to ban

Derived terms

Iban

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bam/

Adjective

bam

1. greedy

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbam/
• Rhymes: -bam, -am, -m

Etymology 1

From Malay bam, from Persian بام (bâm, “ceiling”).

Noun

bam (plural bam-bam, first-person possessive bamku, second-person possessive bammu, third-person possessive bamnya)

1. (nautical) crosspiece

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic

Noun

bam (plural bam-bam, first-person possessive bamku, second-person possessive bammu, third-person possessive bamnya)

1. bam: boom of a large drum

References

Further reading

• “bam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• baem (Late Old Frisian)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *baum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow”). Cognates include Old English bēam, Old Saxon bōm and Old Dutch bōm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baːm/

Noun

bām m

1. tree
2. bench
3. seat

Inflection

Descendants

• North Frisian:

  Most dialects: buum

  Heligoland: Booam

  Sylt: Boom

• Saterland Frisian: Boom
• West Frisian: beam

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

Old Saxon

Noun

bām m

1. Alternative form of bom

Pnar

Etymology

From Proto-Khasian *baːm (“to eat”), from Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɓaam (“to chew”). Cognate with Khasi bam, Blang pá̤m, Ngeq baːm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bam/

Verb

bam

1. to eat

Polish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bam/
• Rhymes: -am
• Syllabification: bam

Interjection

bam

1. dong, ding dong (used when imitating a clock or watch)

   Synonyms: bim-bam, bim-bam-bom

Further reading

• bam in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

bam

1. bang

References

• bam in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Volapük

Noun

bam (nominative plural bams)

1. bench
2. seat

Declension